Downtown fire shuts BART station

Malcolm Glover, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, June 19, 1997

A downtown BART station was temporarily closed and traffic in San Francisco's Financial District was gridlocked Thursday morning when a two-alarm fire caused heavy black smoke to pour out of a PG&E manhole.

The fire apparently started when a transformer in the basement of the Adam Grant Building at 114 Sansome St. shorted out. No one was injured.

Firefighters ordered 200 employees to leave the lower floors of the 14-story building that houses some of the Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro law offices and reportedly told them to go home for the day.

Battalion Chief Victor Shannon said 60 firefighters responded to the 9:53 a.m. report of "heavy black smoke pouring out of a manhole" at Sansome near Bush Street.

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PG&E workers and firefighters found that the blown transformer had triggered blasts in the electrical panels in the lobby, killing power to the building.

Firefighters flooded the manhole and the underground electrical vault with a foam that smothered the fire, preventing any possibility of a flare-up and extinguishing what little flames there were, Shannon said. The fire was declared under control at 10:27 a.m.

Shannon said the two alarms were ordered as a precaution in case the fire spread into the highrise building.

A BART spokeswoman said the Montgomery Street Station, a block away from the fire, was closed at 10:24 a.m. as a precaution. The station was reopened at 10:59 a.m.

Employees of the building were allowed to return to their offices long enough to pick up their keys and personal items before being sent home for the day.

An emergency telephone number - 1-800-888-UPDATE - was set up for them to call to see if they should report to work on Friday.&lt;